Untitled Document
     
Advertisement Click to advertise with us!
     

TheSax.Info and Woodwind Forum Calendar Fundraisers!

I'll see what I can do.

100+ mouthpieces and a bunch of horns.
 
Just a note.

I've been working on the 2009 TheSax.info calendar. I've got a few really nice submissions for it and I've asked some folks to use pics that they submitted for earlier calendars that I haven't included yet.

REMEMBER: the deadline for picture submissions is September 1.

If you've been waiting, send 'em in now!
 
The deadline has come and gone. Here's what's going to happen:

* I'm currently in Week 3 of my 5 week college course. When that's over, I'll be looking at some of the final submissions (ones submitted in the past month) in more depth.

* I'll then have my crack team of critics (my wife and me) look at the assembled pics and then we'll make a pick of 13: 12 months and the cover.

* I'll post the names of the folks selected and their horns. The rest of the pics will be first-shot for the '10 calendar!

* I will probably have the entire calendar assembled and ready to go by October 1. Samples will be posted when they're ready.
 
OK, woodwind fans. Here's the 2009 line up, in no particular order

1. Matt Stohrer, 1920's Conn New Wonder Eb alto (rose gold plate, heavily engraved)
2. AH Visser, 1939 SML Modele Super Standard Eb alto (silver plate)
3. Christoph Huxoll, 1970's Buffet S1 Bb tenor (silver plate)
4. John Talcott, 1950 Selmer Super (Balanced) Action Eb alto (silver plate, custom engraved by Jason Dumars)
5. Charles W. Gray, COMPILATION*: 1969 Buffet SDA Eb bari (low A, silver plate), 2005 Cannonball "Big Bell" Global Series Bb tenor (silver plate), 1952 Selmer SBA Eb alto (silver plate), 2001 Buffet Festival Bb clarinet (wood), early Weissman C piccolo (wood), 2000 Pearl 761RBE C flute w/Weissman head (silver plate) -- and power tools.
6. Peter Gaylord, 1920's Buescher True Tone Eb alto (silver plate)
7. Jim Glass, Jr., COMPILATION: 2006 Eppelsheim Bb Soprillo (lacquer) and 1880 6-Key, Ivory headjoint piccolo.
8. Rob Verdi: Dolnet curved Eb sopranino (lacquer) and 1920's Lyon & Healy Perfect Curved Bb soprano.
9. Pierre Haftek, COMPILATION: 1960's Beaugnier-made Vito Bb soprano, Eb alto and Bb tenor (all lacquer)
10. AH Visser, 1930's Conn 6M (New York neck, lacquer)
11. Christoph Huxoll, COMPILATION: 1920's Conn New Wonder C soprano (silver plate), Bb soprano (gold plate), Bb tenor (gold plate)
12. Pierre Haftek, COMPILATION: 1960's Pierret-made Parisian Ambassador Eb alto, Bb tenor and Eb baritone (all two-tone)
13. AH Visser, 1960's Buescher Model 157 Aristocrat Bb tenor (two-tone)

*COMPILATION = several horns in one (submitted) shot.

I'm thinking of putting one of Mr. Visser's horns on the cover or Mr. Gray's compilation. I have to play with sizes a lot for the cover and those are the biggest pictures submitted.

Note: Matt Stohrer and AH Visser have been contributing a LOT of pics over the past four years that I've been doing calendars. I'm trying to catch up and I've already had Matt in more often than Mr. V. (I really appreciate the pics, folks).

(Interestingly, I think I've had a Jason DuMars-engraved horn in the calendar every year, too.)

I also tried very hard to get anyone in that sent me pics that looked good and were close enough to the sizes I needed. If I didn't include you this year, you'll be my first choice for next year!

Picture samples will be available when I finish making them. Might be another week or so, depending on how much time I have -- that's also why the dates, above, are incomplete :). I can say that the big calendar and small calendar will again have different poses for some horns, because of size issues. I've gotta say, though, both calendars look really, really nice, if 2008 and earlier are any indication.
 
All righty, then.

Samples are now uploaded on my website: http://thesax.info/2009-Calendar

1. People that contributed, please check to make sure that the attribution on your picture is what you wanted. If they're incorrect, contact me immediately at thesaxinfo@gmail.com (and you can copy saxpics@hotmail.com, just to be sure I get your e-mail) or PM me.
2. There are two directories, "large" and "small". This reflects the two different sizes of calendar. Note that I occasionally used different poses for large vs. small.
3. Sample pictures are significantly reduced in both size and quality, so you can see them on a 1024x768 display.
4. I've included full-sized, full-quality samples of the cover. Note that the large cover is 10mb and the small cover is over 4mb.

I still have to upload the files to Lulu.com and play with the 2009 holidays, so the calendars aren't ready, yet. I'll announce when they are.

============

An aside: Lulu.com sent me an e-mail the other day that boiled down to, "The economy sucks. We're having to raise prices." I am not going to be changing the amount I said I'd pay to the calendar contributors -- it's unfair to you to change it at the "last" moment. I'll also try really, really hard not to increase the final overall calendar price over previous years.
 
In this particular instance, most of the formatting of the calendar was done under the influence of (prescription) drugs :p.

One of the gentlemen that contributed pics to the calendar is interested in showing to the world how pretty some of the stencils out there are. Another mentioned something about showing the world that there's more to vintage sax than the Mark VI.

I've mentioned it a couple times, but the entire idea behind saxpics.com (when I owned it) really wasn't to do detailed history or model comparisons, but to show off the pretty pictures. The calendar projects give me an opportunity to do that.

The interesting thing is how many folks say something like, "I'm not a professional photographer ...." and then still contribute a picture of great beauty.

The problem I have is that I'd love to do an entire calendar on ONE make and model, so you can see all the fun variations. Maybe some year ....
 
I *just* finished doing the edits and "holidays" for the large-format calendar and I ordered a proof. I should get it in about a week.

The small-format calendar is uploaded. I have to finish the edits and "holidays".

Lulu changed some of their software (again), thus the delay. Should be ready for the beginning of November, so that people not in the US can get one by Christmas.
 
I finished the 11" x 8.5" calendar last night. Lulu had decided to upgrade their software again, so I was contending with that.

Hopefully this doesn't mean that the layout of the calendars is now different.

I also got confirmation that my 13.5" x 19" proof shipped. I should get that by the end of the week.
 
That was ... not fun.

I got the proof back and almost every picture had formatting that was off.

Took me awhile to fix. I want to get another proof before I release it for sale. Sorry, especially for you non-US folks that have sent me e-mails, but I want to make sure that the pictures do look right.

1. Note that, for the BIG CALENDAR. the price has gone up $4 from last year -- and $3 from last week. Seriously. That means that the price is $28.83 US BEFORE shipping -- cheapest US shipping is $5.90.

I haven't changed my profit per calendar -- $4 (which is shared among those who wanted it) -- it's just gone up in price.

I did look for another on-demand calendar publisher and the cheapest I found was $35, so I guess $29 is a bargain, of sorts :emoji_rolling_eyes:.

2. Note that, for the SMALL CALENDAR, it looks like the overall price has only gone up about $2 to $17.72. I have to wait until my proof comes back to make sure.

I'll be watching sales (when I start them) very carefully. That's a lot of $, even for a really beautiful calendar. While, last year, large calendar sales vs. small ones were about even, I'd be willing to bet that small might outstrip large, this year ....
 
Now, the SMALL calendar came out almost perfectly. Had to tweak a few things, but no biggie. That means ...

THE SMALL (8.5" X 11") CALENDAR IS NOW ON SALE!
(The big 13.5" x 19" calendar will be ready in a few days; I haven't gotten the proof back.)

New preview, with all the months and holidays: http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=4612532

* Final price: $17.72
* Cheapest shipping (US): $5.90 (takes about a week)

Remember, it takes them 3 - 5 days to print the calendar. See also the last dates to order before Christmas.

There are discounts, through Lulu, if you order more than 26 small calendars or 5 big ones.

Banners and such, if you'd like to advertise the calendar for me, will be available in the somewhat near future.

As always, if you're an artist in this year's calendar, you can get a significant discount on the price, but you have to e-mail me. I'll actually send out the details to everyone when I can. I'm a bit worn out ....

As always, if you spot an error, I can fix it. Please e-mail me at thesaxinfo@gmail.com or saxpics@gmail.com and I'll get right on it.
 
I'm really glad I waited to get a second proof. The big calendar's beautiful.

The big (13.5 " x 19") calendar is now available at http://www.lulu.com/content/4478897

* Final price: $28.83
* Cheapest shipping (US): $5.90 (yes, the packaging is very enthusiastic)

Remember, you can get bulk discounts from Lulu.com for ordering more than 5!

As I've mentioned in the past, some of the poses in the small and large calendars are different because of size constraints. Heck, I think I have some of the saxophones on different months for the different calendars, too.

I've also changed the pictures from the original samples. New samples can be seen at http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=4478897 (again, Flash is required).
 
FWIW, I'm extremely happy with how Jim's Soprillo and piccolo picture came out in the big calendar. I had to really fight with the sizes. My wife was even impressed with the result.
 
I can't order because I keep getting this message, "The postal code you entered doesn't match any address in our shipper's database. We couldn't match what you entered to any address in our shipper's database." Funny, it worked last year. :emoji_rolling_eyes:
 
As always, if you're an artist in this year's calendar, you can get a significant discount on the price, but you have to e-mail me.
:p

I've mentioned this before, but it bears repeating:

I, myself, do not print the calendar. I also do not ship the calendar or know anything about your order. Lulu.com takes care of all of that. I just put the calendar together.

Lulu actually does have a decent help system at http://www.lulu.com/en/help/. They also have a live person available -- and no, you don't have to be a Lulu member to use it. Just use any ol' e-mail address.

If you're not someone who contributed to the calendar, you're havening problems, you want to buy lots of stuff and Lulu.com isn't helping, you can e-mail me and I'll take care of the order.
 
Um, not concerned about how I'm gonna get the calendars. I'll figure it out. But you will lose most of your customers because of this problem. So I figured you'd be interested in knowing. I'm just one data point. If others are not having this problem, feel free to disregard.
 
Last edited:
Thanks, but I can only say, "I don't have a problem when I do it". I've ordered them for myself and ordered them for other people, even overseas.

There is no way of me knowing if other people have a problem, unless every person reports to me and I don't have that kind of bandwidth.

The *best* suggestion is to talk to Lulu Help. I completely and totally agree that they might have a problem, but if you don't go through their help line and describe the exact steps you took, they can't fix the problem.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm really glad I waited to get a second proof. The big calendar's beautiful.

The big (13.5 " x 19") calendar is now available at http://www.lulu.com/content/4478897

* Final price: $28.83
* Cheapest shipping (US): $5.90 (yes, the packaging is very enthusiastic)

Remember, you can get bulk discounts from Lulu.com for ordering more than 5!

As I've mentioned in the past, some of the poses in the small and large calendars are different because of size constraints. Heck, I think I have some of the saxophones on different months for the different calendars, too.

I've also changed the pictures from the original samples. New samples can be seen at http://www.lulu.com/browse/preview.php?fCID=4478897 (again, Flash is required).

What samples?
 
Back
Top Bottom